ADAPTATION. Everybody’s superpower.

❗I’ll tell you a secret – you have a superpower.
It is called ADAPTATION.

➡️Think about the almost superhuman speed of a professional sprinter, and think of Hulk like power of a rugby player, and think of ballet dancer’s incredible ability to dance on tips of toes, and think of the endurance of an ironman triathlete.
Yes, professionals are also talented physically but nobody was born like that.
It is the result of physical load and specific training.

➡️And then also think about atrophy, the opposite of hypertrophy. If you normaly exercise 3x week and then take a month off, you will notice some loss of strength, flexibility or agility.
If you have ever had a cast, then you may remember that after removing the cast, that limb was thinner and stiffer, and it all had happened just within a few weeks.

⬆️⬇️🔁Adaptation works both ways, meaning depending on the physical load you either get stronger or weaker, or maintain the current condition

💪If you train, you get stronger. It’s not only muscles, it is also tendons, ligaments, cartilage and bones, heart and nervous system and even internal organs and metabolism.

⚠️But there is a catch.
A certain level of activity is necessary to maintain the existing physical condition, otherwise the adaptation turns into an unfavourable form of atrophy. It’s like swimming in a river, to the maintain the current location, a swimmer needs to move or he will start floating down the stream.

📉If the activity level is below the maintenance level, it is not only muscles that atrophy, also ligaments and tendons become less tolerant to load, bones become more fragile, heart and the nervous system is affected too.

🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️ ➡️🤕There is another catch. If one trains more intensely than the body can keep up with and adapt, it leads to an injury. Body needs time, sleep and nutrients to recover and get stronger.

🤔So, how to find the sweet spot of physical load between maintenance and overtraining? How to increase the load without getting injured?
To be continued next week!

🔎Read more about adaptation in
Physical Stress Theory.